Apocalyptic warnings mask a prosperous reality at COP30

• UN climate chief Simon Stiell used famine warnings to open the COP30 conference, claims disputed by long-term data.
• Historical data shows natural famines have been nearly eliminated, with modern hunger primarily caused by conflict and political ideology.
• Scientific bodies like the IPCC find little evidence of worsening trends for droughts, cyclones and other extreme weather events.
• Rising atmospheric CO2 has contributed to global greening and increased agricultural yields, complicating alarmist narratives.
• Critics argue the Net Zero agenda, by targeting hydrocarbons, threatens the very fertilizers and conditions that prevent widespread famine.

In the Amazonian city of Belém, where the United Nations convened its COP30 climate conference, a familiar narrative of impending doom was deployed. UN climate chief Simon Stiell opened the proceedings with dire warnings that government inaction would lead to megadroughts, famines and millions of climate refugees. This apocalyptic rhetoric, however, stands in stark contrast to decades of global data showing a dramatic decline in famine mortality and a planet that is, in many ways, becoming greener and more agriculturally productive, raising questions about the use of fear to advance a specific political and economic agenda.

The myth of the modern famine

The central pillar of Stiell’s argument—that climate change is causing widespread famine—collapses under historical scrutiny. Over the last century, and particularly in the last 25 years, natural famines caused primarily by environmental factors have become exceedingly rare. The United Nations’ own data, from its State of Food Security and Nutrition Report, classifies contemporary famine conditions as limited to active war zones. The great famines of the modern era, such as the tens of millions of deaths during China’s “Great Leap Forward,” were not products of weather but of disastrous political ideology. The current narrative alarmingly parallels these failed policies by targeting the hydrocarbon-based fertilizers and CO2-enriched atmosphere that have been instrumental in feeding a growing global population.

Science fails to support the hysteria

Despite relentless claims of a climate-driven uptick in extreme weather, the scientific evidence remains far less conclusive than the rhetoric at COP30 suggests. The UN’s own Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has repeatedly stated it has “low confidence” in the emergence of trends for drought frequency, and it detects similarly minimal change in trends for cyclones, floods and wildfires. This scientific restraint is often ignored by activists and officials. Recent research, including work by Professor Gianluca Alimonti, has reinforced that there are no statistically significant worsening trends for many key climate impacts, while highlighting humanity’s successful adaptation to environmental challenges.

The unspoken benefits of a carbon-rich world

A critical element omitted from the COP30 dialogue is the documented benefit of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Peer-reviewed studies, including one recently published in Nature Plants, show that the Amazon rainforest and other global biomass are “gorging on the gas of life,” with trees growing significantly faster. This CO2 fertilization effect has led to global greening, de-desertification in marginal areas like the sub-Saharan Sahel, and higher crop yields. Plants grown in CO2-enriched environments also use water more efficiently, enhancing their resilience to periodic dry spells. This reality presents a fundamental contradiction to the alarmist vision of a planet spiraling into barrenness.

The true cost of the Net Zero fantasy

The push for Net Zero emissions, as championed at forums like COP30, represents a modern “Great Leap Forward” with potentially catastrophic consequences. By seeking to eliminate the hydrocarbon economy that provides fertilizer, modern farming and energy, this agenda directly threatens the foundation of global food security. The political and media elites promoting this transition often ignore the scientific data that contradicts their narrative, instead relying on emotional appeals and fear. The construction of the conference itself, which required the felling of an estimated 100,000 rainforest trees to accommodate attendees, served as a potent symbol of the hypocrisy and “sinister inconsistencies” at the heart of the movement.

A manufactured crisis for a political end

The collapse of productive dialogue at COP30 under the weight of its own contradictions reveals a deeper truth. The climate crisis, as presented by its most vocal proponents, relies on a manufactured hysteria that is disconnected from empirical data. The warnings of climate-driven famine are not a reflection of reality but a political tool to justify a radical restructuring of the global economy and a curtailment of personal freedoms. As the evidence of a greener, more productive planet accumulates, the choice becomes clear: embrace a future of innovation and abundance based on factual science, or submit to a dystopian fantasy of scarcity and control, all to solve a problem that is not unfolding as predicted.

Sources for this article include:

WattsUpWithThat.com

TheGuardian.com

WHO.int